The power of percussive sounds: Elucidating the perceptual importance of temporally varying tones

由于技术上的限制，早期的发声机器只能发出简单的哔哔声。奇怪的是，尽管面向消费者的产品的声音已经有了很大的进步，但许多安全关键设备仍然使用简单的哔哔声。例如，它们在医院里无处不在，外科医生可以在复杂的手术中保持对病人的视觉关注，护士可以同时监控多个床位。虽然这些声音警报在理论上是无价的，但人们越来越认识到，目前的方法是有问题的。例如，对这些声音的关注经常出现在紧急护理研究所的“十大健康技术危害”报告中，FDA的一项调查显示，它们的设计缺陷导致每年数百名患者死亡。虽然没有那么可怕，但在听觉感知实验中继续使用简单的哔哔声会带来重大问题，因为它们引起的感知过程与自然声音不同。这就提出了一个重要的问题，即主要由简单声音推导出的理论和模型的普遍性。我的团队在合成复杂但受控的刺激方面的专业知识表明，振幅包络（即声音随时间的“形状”）在听觉感知中起着至关重要的作用，但却被广泛忽视。例如，我们已经发现了许多被广泛接受的理论和模型无法解释振幅包络对基本感知过程的影响的实例。最近，我们已经开始应用我们的知识驱动型调查的见解来改善医疗设备的声音。因此，我的研究计划的长期目标是使用复杂的声音来阐明以前被忽视的感知现象，这不仅对知识发现有广泛的影响，而且对数十亿美元的医疗器械行业使用的声音进行更新。我的短期目标集中在幅度包络的重要性被忽视的四个领域。受科学好奇心的启发，前两个目标探索振幅包络在(1)视听整合和(2)时间感知中的作用。这为理论和模型的缺陷提供了新的见解，这些理论和模型主要是通过简单的哔哔声推导和评估的。受现实世界挑战的启发，第二个目标集中在(3)音调检测和(4)声音烦恼。随着医疗设备充斥世界各地的医院，即使是很小的改进也能带来重大的公共卫生收益。总之，这四个短期目标有助于我的长期目标，即使用复杂的声音来阐明以前未被认识到的现象。这些实验不仅将填补我们对听觉系统知识的空白，还将为重新设计医院、核电站、航空公司驾驶舱、工业加工中心等对公共健康和安全至关重要的设备的声音提供信息。

Due to technical limitations, early sound producing machines generated simplistic beeps. Curiously, although the sounds in consumer-facing products have advanced considerably, many safety-critical devices still use simplistic beeps. For example, they are ubiquitous in hospitals, where they allow surgeons to keep visual focus on their patients during complex operations, and nurses to monitor multiple beds concurrently. Although these sound alerts can in theory be invaluable, there is growing recognition that current approaches are problematic. For example, concerns about these sounds appear regularly in the Emergency Care Research Institute's "Top 10 Health Technology Hazards" report, and an FDA survey revealed shortcomings in their design contribute to hundreds of patient deaths each year. Although less dire, the continued use of simplistic beeps in auditory perception experiments poses significant problems, as they evoke different perceptual processes than natural sounds. This raises important questions about the generalizability of theories and models derived primarily with simple sounds. My team's expertise in synthesizing complex-yet-controlled stimuli has demonstrated that amplitude envelope (i.e., a sound's "shape" over time) plays a crucial yet widely overlooked role in auditory perception. For example, we have discovered multiple instances in which widely accepted theories and models fail to explain amplitude envelope's effects on fundamental perceptual processes. Recently, we have begun applying insights from our knowledge-driven inquiry to improve medical device sounds. Therefore, my research program's long-term goal of using complex sounds to elucidate previously overlooked perceptual phenomena holds wide-ranging implications-not only for knowledge discovery, but also for updating sounds used by the multibillion-dollar medical device industry. My short-term objectives focus on four areas in which amplitude envelope's importance has been overlooked. Inspired by scientific curiosity, the first two objectives explore amplitude envelope's role in (1) audio-visual integration and (2) timing perception. This provides novel insight into shortcomings of theories and models largely derived and assessed with simplistic beeps. Inspired by real-world challenges, the second two objectives focus on (3) tone detection, and (4) sound annoyance. As medical devices fill hospitals around the world, even small improvements can leverage significant public health gains. Together, these four short-term objectives contribute to my long-term objective of using complex sounds to elucidate previously unrecognized phenomena. Not only will these experiments fill gaps in our knowledge of the auditory system, they will also inform the redesign of sounds in safety-critical devices in hospitals, as well as nuclear power plants, airline cockpits, industrial processing centers, and other high-consequence endeavors important to public health and safety.